The Corona crisis has hit young professionals and trainees in Germany severely.
These are the findings of the “Plan B” study, which IG Metall and youth researcher Simon Schnetzer presented in Frankfurt on Wednesday.
In the pandemic winter at the beginning of 2021, 61 percent of those surveyed said that their mental health had deteriorated.
55 percent complained of negative effects on their friendships and 51 percent even said they could no longer control their own life.
In the vocational schools in particular, the situation has worsened massively, reported 71 percent of the trainees.
Dual students also described poorer learning conditions in the universities and generally lower motivation.
A third of the students are afraid of being taken on, and among the trainees it is even 40 percent.
"The young people have curled up"
The second chairwoman of the union, Christiane Benner, criticized the inadequately prepared vocational training system.
In the transition to digital forms of instruction, the vocational schools had performed poorly.
She warned of grave consequences if the situation does not change.
“If plans have been destroyed by the pandemic, new plans are needed and we all have a responsibility to accompany them.
Employers and politicians must act immediately in order to maintain and expand good quality apprenticeships and then also take on the next generation.
"The young people have really curled up," said youth researcher Schnetzer.
Many also suffered from self-esteem.
You now need "little nudges" such as mentoring programs to get started.
The study is based on a representative survey with 1002 young people, an internal survey by the IG Metall-Jugend with 3229 participants as well as discussions with small groups.